Waverton Community Primary School

Waverton Community Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 24–25 January 2012 Inspection number 378235 Unique Reference Number 111106 Local authority Cheshire West and Chester Inspection number 378235 Inspection dates 24–25 January 2012 Lead inspector Nigel Cromey-Hawke

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 201 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sarah Williams Headteacher Simon Talbot Date of previous school inspection 10 May 2007 School address Common Lane Waverton Chester CH3 7QT Telephone number 01244 981060 Fax number 01244 335490 Email address admin@waverton.cheshire.sch.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

Nigel Cromey-Hawke Clare Daniel Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspectors observed teaching and learning in 14 lessons, including joint observations with the headteacher, observing eight teachers and seven classes. The inspectors also held meetings with members of the governing body, staff, parents and carers and groups of pupils. The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a wide range of documentation, including development planning, pupils’ work, safeguarding arrangements, self-evaluation records, policies and performance data. No responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were available to assist in planning the inspection. The inspectors scrutinised paper questionnaires from 103 parents and carers, 10 staff and 89 pupils.

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Information about the school

This is an average-sized primary school. The vast mast majority of pupils are of White British heritage, with none having English as an additional language. There are more boys than girls. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is well below average. The school has gained the Artsmark Gold and Eco Schools Silver awards and has Healthy School status. The school has met government floor standards during the last three years. The school manages its own before and after school club which is subject to a separate inspection. This report can be found on the Ofsted website. There has been considerable staffing change over the last two years. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

 This is a good school. It has a number of strengths. Pupils, parents and carers are very positive about the school and the way it prepares the pupils for the next stage in their learning.

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Key Findings

 Achievement is good. Attainment on leaving the school in Year 6 has been consistently high for the last four years. Pupil progress is good. Following some disruption last year the school identified groups of pupils who were not making enough progress, especially in writing and mathematics. Staffing has been changed, support programmes put in place and these gaps in learning are narrowing. Attainment in reading throughout the school is high. The progress of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is now securely good.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is good. In lessons it varies between outstanding and satisfactory. In the vast majority of cases it ensures that pupils make good progress. Strengths of the best teaching are lively pace, good levels of challenge and well-structured activities. Comparatively weaker elements in teaching are excessive teacher talk which limits opportunities for independent learning, inconsistent use of targets to help pupils improve their work and an inaccurate match of activities to pupils’ needs.

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Key Findings

 Pupils’ behaviour and safety are excellent. They say they feel very safe and enjoy school enormously. Behaviour is exemplary, attendance very high and bullying of all kinds extremely low. Pupils’ social and moral development is outstanding.

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Key Findings

 The school knows its strengths and weaknesses well. High levels of attainment and achievement have been sustained thanks to the strong leadership of the senior leaders and governors. Aspects of middle leader development planning and monitoring are not yet fully established.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the small amount of satisfactory teaching to at least good by:  getting a better match of activities to pupils’ needs and interests in lessons  developing pupils’ abilities to work independently by encouraging them to better explain their learning without adult support  extending the good practice in target setting and feedback for pupils seen in English and mathematics across the school so that pupils are clear about what they have to do to improve their work in all subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  developing the monitoring role of subject leaders so that they have a clearer understanding of the quality of provision in their areas of responsibility  ensuring that all development plans include a sharp focus so that it is easier to evaluate accurately the impact of actions on outcomes.

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Achievement of pupils

The school is accurate in its evaluation that achievement is good. Children’s starting points on entry to the Early Years Foundation Stage are generally above those expected for their age and they make good progress. A wide range of stimulating, engaging activities capture children’s imagination within the Reception class and move their learning on quickly in all areas of their development. This is especially the case with their personal and social development and their skills in counting and linking letters and sounds. The provision outdoors is also good and children investigate for themselves and develop their creative skills. Effective steps to develop reading skills begin in the Reception class. This is built upon within Key Stages 1 and 2 so that attainment is high in reading at the end of both Year 2 and Year 6.

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Achievement of pupils

Staffing changes over the last year within Key Stage 2 resulted in some relative weaknesses in attainment and achievement in both writing and mathematics. The school is addressing these gaps robustly and pupils are now making up lost ground. As a result, learning is good in lessons and most pupils acquire knowledge quickly and are secure in their understanding in different subjects. They develop and apply a range of skills well, including the use of information and communication technology. Attainment in English and mathematics on leaving in Year 6 is high and has been in most years since the last inspection. Most pupils are thus making better, but not always rapid, progress over time than all pupils nationally, given their starting points. As such, pupils are being well prepared for the next stage in their education. There are no significant differences between the progress of boys and girls. The

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Achievement of pupils

progress of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is good. This has improved because of more accurate identification of their needs and additional support put in place. The vast majority of parents and carers are highly supportive of the good progress their children make throughout the school and the inspection endorses their views.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching and learning across the school are good. There is some teaching that is outstanding but also a small amount that is satisfactory, a situation that some parents and carers recognise in their questionnaire returns. In the best lessons good planning ensures that varied and often practical activities are provided that meet the needs of pupils well. Teachers in most subjects and classes have high expectations and use their thorough subject knowledge and their accurate assessment of pupils’ performance to set challenging tasks. They enthuse and motivate most pupils to participate. This was particularly the case in an outstanding science lesson observed, where pupils had to analyse forces and calculate friction by testing parts of their classroom environment. Excellent explanations by pupils demonstrated their abilities to work both independently and in teams and showcased their communication skills. In another effective English lesson humour was used to great effect by

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Quality of teaching

the teacher to get the pupils to analyse the characteristics of advertisements, prior to devising their own versions. In satisfactory lessons teachers sometimes talk too much and provide limited opportunities for pupils to work independently and explain their learning without adult support. Occasionally, lessons show good planning but in practice activities do not meet the needs of pupils and learning is no better than satisfactory.

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Quality of teaching

Most teachers use questioning particularly well to extend pupils’ understanding. The majority of teaching thus deepens pupils’ knowledge and understanding and teaches them a range of skills in reading, writing, communication and mathematics across the planned curriculum. Teaching has a positive effect upon pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, especially upon their confidence in interacting with each other and adults. Exciting lessons create an enthusiasm for learning and whet the pupils’ appetite to find out more for themselves.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers assess pupils’ learning regularly and accurately and use this information to devise challenging termly targets for individuals in English and mathematics. This is supported by often very good feedback and marking to help pupils move forward. However, this quality of practice is not used extensively across all subjects. As a result, teachers do not always make it as clear as they could what pupils need to do to improve.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Typically, the behaviour and safety of pupils both within classes and around the school is outstanding and has been since the last inspection. Pupils make an exceptional contribution to the positive learning environment. They demonstrate high levels of engagement and excellent levels of courtesy, collaboration, respect for each other and cooperation in and out of lessons. Pupils are particularly adept at managing their own behaviour and are quick to both support and challenge each other over this. Staff consistently and effectively operate a comprehensive rewards and consequences policy which pupils respect and have had a considerable part in shaping. Parents and carers are almost unanimous in their support for all these aspects of the school’s work. One parent typically commented that her child has ‘always enjoyed the school experience, particularly the sense of warmth and community – the staff make sure that the children feel extremely secure and valued.’ Bullying is extremely

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

rare and when encountered is dealt with swiftly using the school’s work on human values and their personal, social, emotional health and citizenship programmes. Consequently, the school is a warm, harmonious community where cyber-bullying, racial discrimination and bullying related to any pupil is almost unheard of. The school makes good use of partners and the public services to develop pupils’ understanding of the danger of strangers, behaviour in public and safe/unsafe situations. Many pupils walk or cycle to school unaccompanied, following specific training provided by the school, supported by rigorous risk assessments. Pupils demonstrate their support for the school through their very high attendance, good punctuality to school and to lessons and very positive relations with adults in the school. Pupils take on considerable levels of responsibility for the daily running of the school, as well as through the active school and eco councils.

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Leadership and management

The school’s senior leaders and managers consistently communicate high expectations and ambition for the school. They clearly model good practice and work constantly to improve and support teaching and drive improvement. Teaching is improving and overall good, with an increasing amount that is outstanding. Staff training has been extensive and enabled staff to support more effectively those pupils who did not make expected levels of progress in writing and mathematics last year. The impact is already being seen in accelerated rates of pupils’ progress to close the gap. As a result, despite changes in staffing and new roles and responsibilities taken on by some members of staff, good levels of achievement on leaving the school have been maintained. Self-evaluation is accurate and has informed key strategies for bringing about change. The school recognises that the role of some recently appointed subject leaders is not yet fully developed, especially in monitoring and evaluating

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Leadership and management

the quality of provision in their areas of responsibility. Aspects of the development planning associated with these areas also need to have a sharper focus in order that evaluation of the impact of actions taken can be more accurate. Consequently, the school’s capacity for sustained improvement is good rather than outstanding.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum is good. It is well organised and provides effective and interesting opportunities for learning for all groups of pupils so that they are prepared well for the future. The provision for gifted, able and talented pupils is especially strong and makes very good use of partnerships with local high schools and providers. The work of the before and after school club is very well integrated into that of the school, especially in respect of extra- curricular provision. There are real strengths in the curriculum in sport, music and art. The overall promotion of spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is good with excellence in pupils’ social skills and moral understanding. Leaders and managers ensure that safeguarding requirements are met and the school demonstrates good practice in the vetting and checking of staff and in site security. The promotion of equal opportunities is excellent, with instances of discrimination extremely rare and, if encountered, dealt with

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Leadership and management

very efficiently. Many members of the governing body are recently in post but have undergone high levels of training and are fully aware of the strengths and areas for development within the school. They are active in supporting its work and provide good levels of challenge in its drive for further improvement.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools incl ude secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

Thank you for the warm reception you gave my colleague and I when we inspected your school recently. You were very friendly and polite, and enthusiastic about what you do.

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

Waverton Primary is a good school. You get a good start to your learning in the Reception class and make good progress there. This continues throughout the rest of the school so that by the time you leave in Year 6 most of you have reached high levels of attainment in English and mathematics, and especially in your reading. Those of you who find learning difficult also make good progress because of the extra support you receive, particularly from the talented teaching assistants who help the teachers with your learning. Teaching across the school is good, with some that is outstanding but also some that is satisfactory. The school looks after you well and you clearly enjoy being there. Your behaviour is excellent and your attendance high. Well done. The leadership and management of the school are good, as well as the range of subjects that are provided. You particularly enjoy the opportunities provided

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

for sport, music, art and drama. We have asked the school to consider the following things that will help it improve further.

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

 Make sure that all your lessons are at least good.  Ensure that teachers check on the quality of teaching more often in all your lessons and make their planning for improvement more detailed.  Extend the good practice in the use of individual learning targets that is found in English and mathematics across more subjects.

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

You can help by telling your teachers how best you learn and if you have any problems. I wish you the best for the future.

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Inspection of Waverton Community Primary School, Chester CH3 7QT

Nigel Cromey-Hawke Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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